


London Pride

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-19
Updated: 2015-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-10 03:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4375253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwaine and his friends march in the Pride parade when he notices something is off with Merlin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	London Pride

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, again, not beta'd
> 
> Written for Merlin_writers tropes bingo. Squares: Hurt/Comfort and Secret Relationship

Some said the weather was perfect for Pride, others claimed it was already too hot. Gwaine had stuffed his t-shirt into the back pocket of his cut-off jeans from the start, Percy had taken his off half-way through. Even Merlin had rolled his sleeves up. To their surprise, Leon was the one to wear the most scandalous shorts. Arthur was still a bit shy, it was his first Pride, at least the first one he was in the parade with the others. 

They had painted their faces with rainbow colours and had fun, waving at the spectators, handing out stickers and flyers of their organisation, dancing along the street, blowing kisses and soaking up the positive energy everyone radiated. 

Leon provided water bottles from the little cart he dragged along and they all had a good time.

“Come on, Arthur, we’re about half-way through.”

“My feet are aching already!” Arthur laughed.

Gwaine put a little smooch on his cheek. “Save some for later. We’ll dance the night away and finally find you a bloke!”

Arthur just shook his head and went to put more stickers on people’s t-shirts, hats and arms.

Gwaine was just about to wave with his rainbow-coloured feather boa at some cuties who cheered them on when he caught a glimpse of Merlin. He frowned. “Are you alright?” His friend was even paler than usually.

“Yes, I…” Merlin stumbled but managed to catch himself. 

“Fuck,” Gwaine mumbled and shoved his roll of stickers into Owaine’s hands. He knew Merlin long enough to know what to make of the signs. 

Merlin started to giggle.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.” He grabbed Merlin and tried to drag him along. He’d witnessed Merlin’s antics when his blood sugar level slipped into the ‘too low’-zone too often.

“Lemme! ‘m…’m having fun!”

Gwaine didn’t let go, even though Merlin tried to shake him off. Damn, this boy was heavy when he was like this! They needed to get him out of the parade as quickly as possible.

Arthur noticed that something was off and rushed over. “What’s wrong? Merlin?”

“Get a sugary drink from Leon!” Gwaine was still struggling with a giggling Merlin who insisted he had never been better while he lost more and more of his coordination. 

When Gwaine reached Percy, he basically shoved Merlin into his arms. “Hold this!”

Arthur came back and tried to make Merlin, who constantly tried to shove Percy’s hands away and babbled nonsense, drink some Coke and eat a cookie. 

Signalling a steward that they had an emergency, Gwaine helped the steward to make a path through the crowd. “This way!”

He needn’t have shouted. The music on this street corner was way too loud and Percy followed anyway. Merlin still struggled against the hold, stumbled along, sang a line from the song that played again and again and blew kisses to the people around them. 

As soon as they reached the first aid tent, Percy dropped Merlin onto a stretcher as Arthur yelled for a doctor. 

“What happened?” A young doctor already put rubber gloves on and started to examine Merlin. “A bit too much to drink?”

While Percy shoved Merlin, who tried to get up, down again and held him there, Arthur frowned. “He’s diabetic and we’re in the parade,” he said fiercely as if that would explain everything. 

“Alright.” The doctor turned to Merlin. “What’s your name?”

Merlin blinked and then smiled goofily. “You’re cute.”

“When was the last time you’ve eaten?” The doctor checked Merlin’s emergency bracelet and signalled for a paramedic to bring him a test. 

Merlin just grinned.

“I know he’s had breakfast. At around 9 this morning.” Arthur basically shoved Percy out of the way and reached for Merlin’s hand, kneeling down and stroking some sweaty strands of hair out of Merlin’s eyes. 

Percy and Gwaine exchanged a surprised look when Arthur said this. 

“Nothing since then?” The doctor checked the blood sugar level quickly and his eyebrows met with his hairline. 

“Not that I know of and we’ve spent most of the day together.” Arthur paled when he saw the doctor’s reaction. “I should have taken better care of him. But this is rather new, I’m still learning about…you know, what to do.”

“It’s not your fault. In some cases, this can happen quickly.”

A paramedic brought a sugary liquid and the doctor tried to make Merlin drink. When he turned his head away again and again, he handed the plastic cup to Arthur. “Here, maybe he takes it from you.”

When Merlin smiled at Arthur and finally sipped, the doctor got up. “Lads, I know you are worried about your friend. You did great by bringing him here right away. We’ll take care of him. If his blood sugar level won’t get up a reasonable amount, we will take him to the hospital. You said you’re in the parade, you should go back now.” He smiled encouragingly.

“I’ll stay.” Arthur insisted as he put the almost empty cup down.

“Come on, Arthur,” Gwaine put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder, “stop crowding the nice doctor. Look, Merlin’s already got a bit of colour back on his face, there’s nothing we can do now. We’ll check on him later.”

Arthur shook his head. “I’m staying.”

“It’s your first Pride. Do you really want to miss the parade? Merlin will be fine.” Percy inquired.

“It’s no fun without him.” Arthur never took his eyes off of Merlin who was already a bit more aware of his surroundings than ten minutes before. 

Merlin blinked and blew Arthur a kiss. “I love you.” 

“Here, drink a bit more of this.” Arthur offered the rest of the liquid to Merlin.

Gwaine shrugged and then grinned at Percy. They patted Arthur’s shoulders, convinced he didn’t even notice as he gently stroked the back of Merlin’s hand, mumbling nonsense at him, thanked the doctor and left.

As soon as they were out of the first aid area again, Percy grinned widely. “Merlin and Arthur, who would have thunk?”

Gwaine laughed. “Let’s go, spread the good news!” He bounced away to find their group again and to tell everyone about the happy couple.


End file.
